"The English Channel" Considered for Prestigious Award

12/12/2007

The College of Arts and Sciences is pleased to announce that Distinguished Scholar in Residence Robert Brustein’s play, The English Channel, has been named for consideration for the American Theatre Critics Association’s Steinberg Prize.

The English Channel premiered in Suffolk’s C. Walsh Theatre from September 6 to September 15, 2007. It was co-produced by Theatre Department chair Marilyn Plotkins and General Manager Jim Kaufman, directed by Associate Professor Wesley Savick, and designed by Assistant Professor Richard Chambers. The production celebrated the appointment of Robert Brustein as Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Suffolk University and the rededication of the recently renovated C. Walsh Theatre. The English Channel, a four-person dramatic representation of the life of William Shakespeare, set to verse to mimic the Elizabethan style, was well received by Boston audiences before it made its journey to the Vineyard Playhouse on Martha’s Vineyard for a longer run.

The American Theatre Critics Association, Inc. fosters greater communication among theatre critics in the United States and abroad, advocates absolute freedom of expression in theatre and theatre criticism, strives to increase public awareness of the theatre as an important national resource and reaffirms the individual critic's right to disagree with the opinions of colleagues. Since shortly after its formation in 1974, the American Theatre Critics Association has annually cited outstanding new plays produced around the United States, outside of New York City. Since 2000, the author of the principal citation receives a cash award of $15,000 funded by the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust. The winner is also excerpted and the citations reviewed in the definitive annual theater yearbook, Best Plays. Several ATCA Award selections have gone on to major off-Broadway or Broadway productions, and have received subsequent awards from other organizations. The winners are typically announced during the annual Actors' Theatre of Louisville's annual Humana Festival of New American Plays which will be held from February 24–March 30, 2008.